Huntington Beach City Council candidate is worried about development

Karen Leighton wants to see a slowing of high-density development and prices in Huntington Beach, including downtown parking costs.

In fact, Leighton said she decided to run for a seat on the City Council because she objected to the pace of development in the city over the last few years.

“I want to make sure that, for how much the city is growing, the infrastructure is ready to handle that,” she said. “I want to listen to the community and slow down the growth so the city can take a breath, absorb what we have and stop raising prices.”

Leighton, who has lived in Surf City for 34 years, said she also believes she can bring more accountability to the council.

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Although she has no city board experience, the neonatal nurse said she has served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the California State Board of Registered Nursing and in her job at Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center in Irvine.

“I see nurses that have issues with their licensing, like if they’ve had an infraction on their license,” said the first-time candidate. “They are accountable by making sure they get drug tests and have proper supervision at work.... I just feel like there needs to be a little more accountability [on the City Council], so I wanted to see if I could get in and look at it from that perspective.”

Although she currently works full time, Leighton said she would reduce her hours if elected.

Above all, she said, she’s interested in speaking up for the residents.

“I feel very deeply rooted in the community,” said Leighton, whose father, Fred Garcia, served as president of Golden West College in the mid-1980s.

“Yes, I’m not really active in some of the events that are going on, but that doesn’t mean I don’t go, participate and watch.”

She said she plans on meeting residents to promote her campaign.

“I want to go in there because I want to see what I can do,” she said. “I don’t want to go in there because I want a second term. I want to try to make some positive changes for the community.”

This is another in an occasional look at the nine people who have filed papers indicating their intent to run for a seat on the seven-member Huntington Beach City Council.

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Brittany Woolsey, brittany.woolsey@latimes.com

Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey